Obama: King would've liked Obamacare

8/27/13 12:43 PM EDT

President Obama thinks Martin Luther King Jr. would have supported Obamacare if he were still alive, he said in an interview that aired Tuesday.

“Oh, he would like that,” Obama said, after being asked for his thoughts on King's views on his signature health care law. “Well, because I think he understood that health care, health security is not a privilege; it’s something that in a country as wealthy as ours, everybody should have access to.” The president's comments came in an interview on “The Tom Joyner Show,” conducted ahead of the 50th anniversary of King's “I Have a Dream” speech. Obama is set to deliver his own speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday.

While King “would be amazed in many ways about the progress that we’ve made,” he would also say that more work needs to be done. “When it comes to the economy, when it comes to inequality, when it comes to wealth, when it comes to the challenges that inner cities experience, he would say that we have not made as much progress as the civil and social progress that we’ve made, and that it’s not enough just to have a black president, it’s not enough just to have a black syndicated radio show host,” Obama said. “The question is, does the ordinary person, day-to-day, can they succeed? And we have not made as much progress as we need to on that, and that is something that I spend all my time thinking about, is how do we give opportunity to everybody so if they work hard, they can make it in this country.”

The president also shared his thoughts about “The Butler,” the new movie that offers a fictionalized account about an African-American man who spent decades working in the White House. “I teared up just thinking about not just the butlers who have worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled, but because of Jim Crow, because of discrimination, there was only so far they could go,” he said. “And yet, with dignity and tenacity, they got up and worked every single day, and put up with a whole lot of mess because they hoped for something better for their kids.”

His favorite parts of the movie were Cuba Gooding Jr.'s jokes and seeing Oprah perform. "My girl, she can act," he said. "She’s just a wonderful actress. So I’m glad they did it."

Then, Obama zoomed out, speaking about his family's experiences with the White House staff. “They could not have been kinder to us and warmer to us,” he said. “And part of it, I suspect, is they look at Malia and Sasha and they say, ‘Well, this looks like my grandbaby,’ or ‘This looks like my daughter.’ And I think for them to have a sense that we’ve come that far was a powerful moment for them, and certainly a powerful moment for us. We love them to death. They look after us just wonderfully."